How Green Are Electric and Hybrid Cars?

Most people are under the assumption that electric cars are good for the environment, or "green". Car companies market their vehicles saying they have "zero emissions" because they do not run directly off of gasoline, and "high mpg" if the car is a hybrid. Devonshire Research Group recently found that the electric car company giants Tesla are not as green as one might think. An article was posted to The Recorder, the newspaper of Central Connecticut State University, about a study from CNW Marketing that states, "the Toyota Prius outdoes the Hummer in environmental pollution."

Since electric cars are not gasoline or diesel powered, they do not emit CO2 from the burning process of the gasoline or diesel. They are, however, powered by lithium batteries. The Tesla Model S and Model X both run solely on electricity, so the battery needs to be large enough to hold enough electricity to both power the car and keep it powered for a certain amount of time or distance traveled. This gets charged with electricity. Most electricity comes from burning fossil fuels (around 65% of the United States' total energy consumption) whereas only 14% comes from renewable energy like solar and wind. This essentially means that Teslas are coal powered cars. According to the US Department of Energy, It takes about the same amount of energy for a Tesla to travel 20 miles as it does to refine 1 gallon of gasoline.

Hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius, use a nickel battery in conjunction with a small engine. Nickel batteries are (obviously) made from lithium. The nickel for the Prius's battery is mined in Ontario, Canada. The plant that smelts the nickel is nicknamed "The Superstack" because of how much air pollution it creates. The area around the plant is a wasteland because of the air pollution (specifically sulfur dioxide) and acid rain caused by it. In fact, NASA has used the surrounding area to test moon rovers because of how much the terrain now resembles that of the moon. The real kicker is in the process yet to happen. The nickel is then transported to one of the several locations in Europe to be refined, then to China to be made into "nickel foam", then to Japan to be assembled, and finally shipped to whichever country the car is to be sold in. Every step in this process requires machinery to mine, assemble, and transport the product; all of which requires energy from somewhere. The study from CNW Marketing concludes that the Toyota Prius costs $3.25 per mile it is driven and is expected to last around 100,000 miles. On the other hand, taking into account the same process for the creation and shipment of the car, the Hummer costs only around $1.95 per mile and is expected to last around 300,000 miles. Each Prius consumes around 1,000 gallons of gas before the odometer even reaches 1 mile. This means that the Hummer will last around 3 times as long as a Prius and will use around 50% less energy in its total lifespan.

Read more about the Prius vs. the Hummer

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